Intel plans to resume shipment of its flawed Sandy Bridge chipset motherboards at the request of some computer makers. However, it will be restricted for use in computer-system configurations that are not impacted by the glitch, said the company.
Intel spokesman Dan Snyder said the systems will include "closed" notebook configurations and PCs that has a PCI Express add-in card.
Intel also said it will begin shipping a new version of the chip in mid-February, about two weeks earlier than it previously expected.
Intel had earlier discovered a design flaw in its new line of chips called Sandy Bridge processors that it released in January 2011.
Major PC makers including HP, Dell, Samsung and Lenovo had stopped selling some machines because of the faulty chips.
Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said executives have said there would be no problems if the chipset is used with the unaffected connection ports. Mulloy said, "Based on conversations with customers, they wanted to continue shipping PCs with those chips."
He added that Intel did not make any changes in the pricing of the flawed chipsets.
Intel said the resumption of shipments of the chipset is unlikely to change the losses it had estimated when the flaw was first discovered.
At that time, the company said it expected a drop in first-quarter revenue by about $300m in addition to about $700m for repair and replacement of the affected chips.
